Who would ever have thought that the
poor would be blessed, that the hungry would be blessed, that those who weep would
be blessed? If Jesus says that is blessed then
obviously Jesus is teaching us that real and genuine blessing and happiness is
something other than the common
understanding of happiness and blessing. The
world today says happiness includes lots of money, foreign holidays, a big
house, and a whole host of other things many of which are sinful. We could
almost say that our world today is addicted to greed and
sin. There is a big deception in
the world. People are being tricked
into thinking that possessing and having will bring happiness. People are being fed lies and believe
it. And all lies come from the
devil. The devil is luring people
with great promises and expectations of happiness but they are empty promises
and lies.

Again, if Jesus says that the poor will
be blessed, that the hungry will be blessed, that those who weep will be
blessed, that those who are hated and driven out because of him will be blessed obviously
Jesus is teaching us that real and genuine blessing and happiness is something
other than the common
understanding of happiness and blessing. What is Jesus’ understanding of
happiness and blessing? We could say it like
this; there is no happiness outside of the will of God. St. Augustine said,

“You have made us for yourself O
Lord
and our hearts are restless until
they rest in you.”

God has made our human hearts
and so we will be happy only when filled by God. Our being from its first moment
is directed towards God, orientated towards God, and if we deny this or try to
find God elsewhere we will not be happy or have the blessedness Jesus is talking
of. That is why it would be impossible to meet a person possessed by greed
who is also happy. It would be
impossible to meet a person taken over by lust who is happy. Lust can never contribute to happiness
because lust always wants to manipulate, control, cajole other people, to trick
and con them. Paul wrote in our
second reading today,

“If our hope…has been for this
life only we are the most unfortunate of all people.” (1 Cor 15:19)

And our first reading stated,

A curse on the man who puts his
trust in man,
who relies on the things of flesh.” (Jer 17:5)

The only thing that will bring
happiness is to love and be loved, and by love I mean the
pure form of love we see in Jesus
which sacrifices ourselves for the benefit of the other. One of the signs of a Christian is being joyful. St. Francis said it is for the devil and
his ilk to be sad and for us to be joyful. There is only one sadness in life, not to be a saint. A saint is someone who loves God very
much and is convinced that God loves him/her. How do we achieve the happiness of the saints? How can we achieve the
blessing and happiness Jesus is talking of in the
Gospel where to all outward appearances if someone were to look at us we are a
mess but are happy in our hearts? There
is one way to achieve that happiness. If
you want that experience, focus on the crucifix. Jesus would have come from heaven to die just for you. There is no one who loves you and has
loved you like Jesus. Spend time with Jesus looking up at him on the cross
contemplating his love for you. Find
your happiness in Jesus, then you will be really happy and blessed. As our first
reading stated,

“A blessing on the man who puts his
trust in the Lord,
with the Lord for his hope.” (Jer 17:7)

If you do not have the joy of a
Christian ask yourself is it because you have given yourself to some of the
false promises and illusions and deceptions of the world which are pulling you
down. If you have, ask God for the
grace to abandon them and give yourself to God so that you can be happy.

A curse on the man who puts his
trust in man,
who relies on the things of flesh….
A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord,
with the Lord for his hope.” (Jer 17:5)

“If our hope…has been for this
life only we are the most unfortunate of all people.” (1 Cor 15:19)

“You have made us for yourself O
Lord
and our hearts are restless until
they rest in you.”